Repair a Puncture in a Bike Tire Inner Tube

3 Parts:

Steps

Video: Repair a Bike Tire Puncture

Comments

Hello and welcome to VisiHow. Today I'm going to show you how to repair a puncture in an inner tube in a mountain bike, BMX, or touring bike.

1. 1
   The first step is to inflate the tire in order to find the puncture

   .

   Take off the valve cap and attach a pump to inflate the tire.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
2. 2
   Once the tire is inflated, you're going to search for the puncture

   .

   To do this you can put the inner tube in a bowl of water. The bubbles will reveal where the puncture is. If you don't have a bowl of water, or you're on the road and this happens while you're cycling, then inflating the tire and searching for the hole is your other alternative.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
3. 3
   Once the tire is inflated, you can sometimes hear the air escaping from the hole, you can put your finger over it and feel the air escaping

   .

   If you cannot hear the air escaping but think there may be a hole, you can take some saliva and rub it over the potential hole. This would make a sound, and bubbles would also appear.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
4. 4
   Now that you've found the hole, we need to repair it

   .

   The first thing to do is to take your puncture repair kit, and mark the hole using chalk or a crayon, because when the glue is put on the hole may become invisible. To do this, make a mark along the horizontal axis and the vertical axis with the hole being in the center, where the lines cross, that indicates where the hole is.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
5. 5
   The next stage is to use some sandpaper just to remove debris and to flatten the surface so that the patch will effectively stick over the hole

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
6. 6
   Once that is done, we're going to take some puncture repair glue, and we're going to make a large patch of glue, larger than then patch that we're going to put on

   .

   This way the patch will stick all the way around and not come undone at the edges. We are going to leave the glue for a minute or so to dry. We do not want it to dry completely, but enough that when the patch is applied it sticks instantly.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
7. 7
   It is important now to deflate the tire

   .

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
8. 8
   The next stage is to take the patch from your puncture repair kit, choosing the correct size for the hole

   .

   We're going to place the patch over the hole and squeeze the rubber and the patch together. Hold that for a couple minutes, making sure you're squeezing each area of the patch, applying firm pressure to ensure each area is stuck on equally and there are no gaps for air to escape.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
9. 9
   Next, we're going to remove the piece of plastic

   .

   Some patches have different styles, some won't have the piece of plastic and will just have the sticky black sheet.

   

   Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
10. 10
    If the patch feels secure, the next stage is to make sure the glue around the patch is no longer sticky by rubbing the inner tube

    .

    We do not want it to stick to the tire or the rim.

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
11. 11
    Now, as you can see, the patch has been applied and the inner tube is ready to be inserted back into the tire and can be used again

    .

    

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help
12. 12
    This is how to repair a puncture in an inner tube

    .

    You've been watching VisiHow. Goodbye.

    Was this step helpful? Yes | No| I need help

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

Comments